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manmallast Sunday at 7:29 AM1 replyview on HN

I‘m not sure I agree on your second point. Cardiovascular disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s and others are endemic to the developed world. My personal opinion here is that constant oversupply with calories is not something humans have been able to adapt to, yet.


Replies

WAlast Sunday at 7:45 AM

We just live longer than back then and have way more opportunities to see these (mostly) late-life diseases. Same with cancer.

Yes, average life span was shorter back then because of child mortality. But the vast majority of surviving adults never reached age 80. Old age was 60-70 and many of these diseases only occur at 70+ in significant numbers.